


Reflections of Crystal

by TheatricalAssassin



Category: Hyper Light Drifter, Max Steel (TV 2013)
Genre: (for hyper light drifter), Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Found Family, Hyper Light Drifter Spoilers, Multi, Mute!Max, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, crossover AU, drifter au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-11-29 08:37:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11437170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatricalAssassin/pseuds/TheatricalAssassin
Summary: Awakened in a new world with new people Max and Steel learn the hard way just how lucky they are. After suffering a near-fatal injury Drifter and Guardian take it upon themselves to be the new mentors for these children they found in the Crystal Forest.





	1. From The Crystal Forest

**Author's Note:**

> WELCOME TO HELL THIS HAS BEEN BURNING IN MY MIND FOR A LONG TIME

Max opened his eyes to a sea of red. To ruins. To bodies. The second he moved to react, the bodies vanished from sight. Leaving him alone in a red sea. He felt the waters shift and lap against his ankles, he turned to see what could be causing it, only to see a large black dog. Somehow, it seemed to beckon him. Max wasn’t sure how he knew but something in his gut told him to follow it. As they walked Max could see ruined buildings in the distance, he could hear the sound of a struggle but couldn’t place where it was. It sounded like it was right on top of him, but there was only him and the dog. There was a deep ache forming in his chest, he could taste blood, his hands began to shake.

The dog stopped and sat down before looking at him. There was something behind its eyes, it knew. It knew. It was getting hard for Max to breath, he felt like he ran a marathon, he could still taste the copper in his mouth. A building rose from the sea at impossible speeds before them. Max jumped back in surprise. The dog sat unperturbed. Slowly, eventually it slowed to a stop. Having reached it’s full height the heavy stone door pulled open. The door opened showing only inky blackness. The dog looked at Max one more time, and walked inside. Max looked into the door, feeling like he’d just been offered a choice. He didn’t know what lie on the other side, but he felt a pull to go in, a sense of urgency and seeing no better option he went in.

Walking through the inky darkness Max had the subtle feeling that he wasn’t alone. He kept checking his peripherals and glancing over his shoulder whenever something shifted in the dark. He pressed on, wishing he could say that he was unperturbed by what he was seeing, or what he thought he was seeing. On the horizon, a light blinded him, and as he regained his sight he could hear Steel’s frantic thoughts. His chest hurt more, and the copper taste in his mouth only grew worse. Tears stinging his eyes he broke into a run, he couldn’t leave Steel to face whatever it is by himself, he could leave Steel like this. The sound of gunfire and metal against hard light filled the air the closer he got, and it only made him run harder. Reaching out to grab something, to get through to Steel the world exploded into bright light as the sea poured from his mouth.

* * *

Steel had never seen anything like this. He’d never seen something in dog like armor, and he’d never seen an abundance of hard light swords. There were only five of them but it was five too many. One had gotten a hit on Max and it was only a matter of time before it was too late. Time had crawled to a stop but he couldn’t help but watch the vitals as he tried to avoid the lightning fast strikes and slashes. Out of reflex he brought up Max’s arm to block a blow, only for the sword to get stuck in his arm momentarily. Steel took this opportunity to punch the attacker squarely in it’s jaw. The sword fell to the ground as it’s user dropped it and the blade deactivated, Steel was running out of time.

Quickly the others were dispatched, some unseen force firing a weapon much greater than theirs swiftly putting an end to their attack. Steel whirled around to find the source of it, only to see a small lithe figure in a red cloak holding a rather large gun and a much larger bulkier figure dressed head to toe in pink armor. They began saying something, Steel couldn’t understand them not yet, his grip on Max’s body was slipping, he was too focused on learning their language. The larger one hurriedly stepped forward catching Max’s body.

“|_37 |\/|3 [-]31|o” the pink entity said, their deep voice welcoming as a campfire “7[-]|5 15 /\/\3|}1<1/V3”

Medicine, they have medicine, they can help. Weakly Steel was able to nod, praying that Max would make it through this that whatever that is would be helpful for Max. He was able to expose a portion of Max’s arm for the needle and the entity wasted no time. Almost immediately Steel could see Max’s vitals get better, they weren’t returning to normal nor were they even stabilizing but they were light years above what they were. The large figure mentioned something to their companion but Steel wasn’t listening, he was too focused on watching Max’s vitals. Just as he could feel Max coming to he saw that they were preparing something, just in time for them to be ripped away from a crystallized hell.

They landed in a town, that much Steel could see. The being who carried them was running very fast through it, people were moving aside and those who didn’t move fast enough were knocked over. They ran and ran until they came to a sliding halt before a building, Steel hadn’t worked out the finer parts of their language yet but there was one symbol he recognized. They’d taken them to a medic. Steel was both worried and relieved, as a doctor saves people. He didn’t want a medic to make Max more comfortable while he died. He was greeted with the visaged of what appeared to be an old man mixing medicine as the pink protector burst into the clinic, startling him in more ways than one.”

“8`/ 7[-]3 _)4<|<41 \/\/[-]47 [-]4|o|o3/\/3|}” He moved from the counter and motioned for them to come to him “[-]3|23 14`/ [-]im |}o\/\/n h3|23”

The larger warrior laid Max down on the table and immediately took two steps back. Steel realized that he can’t stay linked to Max if he wants to be able to help. He had gathered enough information to be able to communicate, he was going to have to take this risk. For Max. Dismounting from the suit he startled the two warriors, the smaller one already having drawn a gun.

“Wait wait! Don’t shoot” Steel said holding up his arms in surrender “If you kill me, you kill him,” the blue skinned individual glanced over to their companion uneasy “Please, Max means the world to me. If you let me, I can help.”

“Son,” the old man said “The most help you can be right now is to leave with your friends.”

The other two looked at each other, a knowing look shared between them that Steel couldn’t understand.

“We will be at my home, please keep us informed on any changes in his condition” The fuschia knight said. There was something in his voice, something that made Steel feel like he could trust him, at least on this matter. Steel took one last look at Max before leaving the clinic with them.

Waiting at their house was, painful. But at least it gave them the chance to calm themselves, to collect themselves. Well at least the other two were able to. Steel was still a ball of nerves. He was still in range to be able to tell how Max was doing, steadily he was getting better but it wasn’t what he wanted to see. He wanted to see Max on his feet again, to be able to take off for the skies again. He’d give anything to be laying next to him again watching horrible cartoons at four am. The two warriors were whispering amongst themselves and Steel couldn’t much understand them. He was still rapidly building the language database and the words he was hearing was very hit and miss, for most of it he couldn’t understand it due to it being very literal. Eventually they looked at him and back to each other, the blue skinned swordsman walked back to Steel and sat down at table. 

“When your friend is released from the Apothecary, I expect a full explanation as to what you two were doing there.” They said, their tone serious and eyes stern

“I can tell you right now,” Steel said “I honestly have no idea how we got there, and I don’t think Max knows either.” 

They didn’t seem to expect that answer, the knight looked taken back by this and carried a look on his face that Steel had seen on Molly’s before. 

“Let’s try something else then” he said “Where was the last place you were before you were in the Crystal Forest?”

At first Steel wasn’t sure he should mention N-Tek at all, but at that same time Steel couldn’t recognize any of the constellations at all. The stars and galaxies were not the right ones to be Earth. He has nothing to lose here by telling them about this. 

“We were in Berto’s lab, goofing around mostly” 

“Why is that?” He asked 

“There wasn’t any work we needed to be doing at that immediate moment, so Max and Berto were throwing things around the lab while I tried to shoot them.” Worry went over both of their faces, Steel empathized

“How are you on power?” The lanky warrior asked 

“I don’t need to link up to Max for the next six hours and thirty minutes.” Steel knew he had more time than that but it was never safe to cut it that close, might as well make it seem like he had less time than he actually had.

The swordsman nodding understanding “Get some sleep, my husband Guardian is finding a pillow for you to lay on. We’ll check on your friend before you need to link up.” 

Sleep sounded good in theory, he could only hope that he was able to rest after today. 


	2. Recovery in Central

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The worst is over but now the slow process of healing has begun. Max and Steel finally relax and unwind while their new hosts help them on the way home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an approximate knowelge of many things but we're going to pretend that anything I wrote medical wise make sense
> 
> i had fuck all to do on the truck and i'm still on the truck so here enjoy this chapter i wrote the 4 days (since it's the dawn of the 4th day now) i was on the truck

There was the sound glass meeting glass, and the smell something brewing, there was a lot of smells and they all hit Max all at the same time. Slowly he cracked his eyes open and was greeted to the sight of a very very large raccoon holding a test tube in each hand with several more sitting in a holder in front of him. 

“4[-] `/0|_||23 4\/\/4|<3” his voice sounded just as old as he looked, upon seeing that Max had regained consciousness he put down what he was doing and came over to where he lay “1375 533 [-]0\/\/ `/0|_| 4|23 |]0|/V” 

Max’s immediate reaction was not to stay put, just as soon as raccoon reached for him he immediately tried to get away from him. Keyword: try. What he did was manage to fall off the table, sending shockwaves of pain throughout his entire being. It was so much for him that he couldn’t move, the most of his left side of his torso screaming because of it. Footsteps approached rapidly as Max tried to fight through the pain to at least crawl away. 

<Max stop! They’re trying to help!> a familiar voice rang out in his head 

“Steel?” Max said, or rather, tried to say. Instead all that came out was a horrible rasping noise that in no way suggested it was speech 

“|]0/V7 7|2`/ 70 74||< 50/V” the voice from before said gently “`/0|_|11 0/V1`/ /\/\4|< |7 \/\/0|253” 

Hands gripped his shoulder and rolled Max onto his back, while laying on the floor he saw two others standing over him. A large Knight who apparently really liked the color pink, as almost all his armor and garments were some shade of it, and a smaller person who seemed to prefer grey. The Knight kneeled down and lifted him off the floor and placed him back onto the table. The raccoon man started to poke and proad at Max’s chest making him hiss in pain. 

“| \/\/0|_|1|]/V7 [-]4\/3 70 |]0 7[-]|5 ||= `/0|_| [-]4|] _||_|57 574`/3|] |o|_|7” the man said disappointed

<Does it look as bad as it feels?> Max asked over the link

<It looks worse honestly.> Steel said with a grimace <I think you tore the stitches>  

<It felt like I did something> Max reached up to feel only to have his hand smacked away, not really understanding the man’s grumbling in his direction 

He winced when he felt something jab into his chest but steadily the pain faded away, Max tried to sit up to see what the old man was doing only to have him push his head back down, again the old man said something but it flew over his head. 

"He said stop moving” Steel said, making it a point to say it out loud

Max stared at Steel, if this were a dangerous situation he was unusually calm. He knew that if they were in trouble, he’d act  _ very  _ differently even if he couldn’t show it. He knew Steel would be able to drop a line and tell him what was what, so whatever was going on he was just going to have to put some trust in these people. 

The raccoon crossed his arms nodding at his work approvingly he grabbed some gauze and bandages and motioned for Max to sit up straight. Obeying him the (hopefully) doctor dressed the wounds making sure that it was secure but not too tight. The moment that he let go Max immediately tried to get an idea of what it looked like. 

“Dude you really don’t want to be playing with that” Steel said forcing Max to put his hands in his lap “For real just don’t.” Max shot Steel an ugly look, not appreciating his friend taking control of his body. “Don’t look at me like that, I know you have all the self control of a gnat. The second you have something to pick at you won’t leave it alone.” 

The two warriors watched them talk, or rather to them it looked like Steel talking at Max, with intrigue. Max could see them out of the corner of his eyes, while he couldn’t see the bigger one’s face he could see part of the smaller one’s. Piercing dark eyes that felt familiar somehow. Max looked at them proper, giving them his full attention. He wasn’t able to place it but there was something about the cloaked person that felt like he’d met them before. 

He watched three odd being come together to talk, they weren’t particularly quiet but with the glances that both the warriors kept giving him, Max was almost certain that they were talking about him. 

<So to make this a lot less painful on you, I was thinking about just implanting what I’ve gathered of their language so you can talk to them when we get back to their place. Or at the very least so the Apothecary here doesn’t have to try very hard to talk to you> Steel hovered over in front of Max 

<That sounds like a good idea honestly> Max said nodding before looking back at the trio of weirdos <You know what they’re saying?>

<Oh they’re just asking if you can come home today.> Steel paused <”home” as in, their house, not Copper Canyon.> he clarified 

Seeing no better opportunity the boys decided to get it over with. Under normal circumstances linking up wasn’t something that was a bad thing, but whenever Steel had to do something new it usually meant that he had a rewrite certain parts of Max’s physical form so that he would be able to use his body without needing a re-learn how to walk. They’ve shared memories before -by accident however, usually only one way with one accidentally tapping into the other while asleep- but Steel directly implanting knowledge that was just that, knowledge, Max knew he was probably going to get a headache. Steel linked up and began to “teach” Max this new spoken language. 

During this period of intense closeness, where their minds are passing the threshold of the other’s, it wasn’t hard for other things to slip through. Max saw the battle that Steel had to fight alone, where Steel fought tooth and nail to save them, and took a chance on Drifter and Guardian to save his life. Likewise Steel saw the red sea, the bodies, the door and the dog. He felt the shifting waters and the feeling that he was being watched. Neural connections were being created as Steel worked, with all the information he was uploading so to speak into Max’s mind time came to a standstill. Just as soon as it started it was over, and Max was dizzier than when Berto decided to use C.Y.T.R.O. to grab him by the ankle and spin him around as fast as the robot’s motors would allow. 

Once Steel dismounted the world was a mess of sound for a moment, Max tried to make sense of the words that were being said but it was all garbled and a mess. The raccoon saw him trying to make sense of the world and rushed over, immediately trying to see if something was wrong. Max could hear him talking and slowly it started to make sense, slowly he was able to understand him. He was afraid that he had a bad reaction to the pain medication. Max was able to get his attention by grabbing his wrists, for the first time today he was able to look at him with understanding. Just as he opened his mouth to speak the Apothecary put his hand over Max’s mouth.

“Like I said, you shouldn’t try to talk.” He said firmly “Given the damage I’m not sure if you’ll be able to.”

“Why’s that?” Drifter asked “I thought you said he was healed.”

“Oh he’s healed, it’s just that there’s a lot of delicate parts, parts that needed to be taken care of differently than how I did for them to work the way they needed to.” the Apothecary explained “ _ Maybe _ he might be able to sometime in the future if we had the equipment, but right now I couldn’t even begin to tell you what we’d need.”

Max wasn’t sure how to react, he’s gone nonverbal before due to stress but this... this was something else entirely. He looked to Steel hoping that he might have an answer, any answer, for this. Steel stared back, with a look only Max was able to decipher. One that said “No, I can’t help here.” Max knew deep down that there was only so much that Steel could do, and that this was so far from his sphere of influence that it was foolish of him to even consider it. Steel was able to help healing along, but he couldn’t outright fix things. 

“But,” the old man started “All things considered, if you two are able to take him home I would.”

“Thank you,” Guardian said with a short bow before turning to Max “My home is not far, my spouse and I have already set up a place for you to rest while you heal. If you would prefer to walk I will assist anyway I can, but I must advise that you think carefully about this. The short walk may complicate things even further, the apothecary and myself would suggest you allow me to carry you, or someone else if you would rather. It is up to you.”

Max stared at him, knowing how much Steel already trusted them he figured that the promise of a bed was at least true. While he didn’t  _ feel _ horrible, it was probably just the painkillers still in effect. Rather than try to gesture out an answer Max thought it would be a better idea to stand up to see how he felt. Swinging his legs off the table he, gently this time, stepped onto the floor. Standing up proper he was able to look up to Guardian only once before his knees buckled and he reached out for the only thing in front of him, which happened to be the much larger warrior in front of him. 

<Steel, can you tell him that I’m not sure if I can walk by myself> Max said trying to get his legs to cooperate

Steel relayed the message as asked of him, Guardian watched the ultralink intently as he attempted to help steady Max. 

“I see, would you like me to help you stay upright then?” Guardian asked keeping an arm around Max for him to hang onto. Max paused for a moment considering it then nodded “Alright, hang onto me, I’ll make sure you won’t fall.” 

Max obeyed as Guardian bent down some to be able to better support him. Drifter having watched the whole scene came to Max’s other side to support him there. Working together the three were able to walk home. Now that Max was actually awake he was able to see what everything looked like. He’d not seen something so vibrant in so long, he couldn’t remember the last time he did. He felt awkward as they drew the stares of villagers. The more they looked at them the more he wished that he was invisible or had stayed at the apothecary’s. Their stares made his face burn hot and his chest ache. He has a responsibility and he can’t even begin to measure how badly he messed up, he went and got landed himself in a situation where he has to depend on the kindness of strangers. Steel was even careful about linking up, which told him how serious it was. Normally he’d just pop on and then pop off no big deal. But normally his chest wasn’t so sensitive that moving his shoulder makes him want to die. They turned off after what felt like an eternity of walking to a small house. He wasn’t sure what it was made of, it looked like stone but it didn’t look like any stone he’d ever seen. 

The door opened slowly and heavily and they were greeted by a small but spacious living space. Through clever positioning of the furniture they were able to get maximise the amount of space they got, thankfully it also made it very easy for them to guide Max to the stairs. Taking it one step at a time they were able to get him up to the second floor. True to their word, they had space set up for Max to stay.

The bed wasn’t very large but by no means was it small. It didn’t look old at all but it did seem like it’s seen some use. The bedding was red and it looked like it was going to feel like heaven compared to laying on that table. They got a few steps away and Drifter let go of him and Guardian carefully helped him down onto the mattress. Feeling the softness of the blanket Max immediately laid down face first to get the full sensory experience, heaven didn’t even begin to describe it, he’d never had something so good. He wrapped himself up in it to get the input from all angles, he was more than content to stay right here and run his hands over the bedding. 

“Drifter and I are going to go start supper” Guardian said, his amusement shining through his voice “We’ll be back to check on you from time to time.” 

“I found it!” Drifter shouted entering the room again, Max was surprised he didn’t hear them leave. “Here you go Max this should help you communicate until we figure something else out.” 

Max was about to grab what Drifter was holding until he realized that it looked an awful lot like Berto’s gauntlet, meaning that if he’s to use this for communication, it has to be electronic. With a defeated look on his face he put his hand back down on the bed. 

<Steel did you tell them about the whole TURBO Touch thing?>

<I absolutely did not.> Steel said “So uh, yea, Max can’t just grab tech. Let me see it.”

“Why is that?” Drifter said pointedly 

“Because he’ll fry it.” Steel said matter-of-factly “The same stuff that he generates not only powers me but has a habit of completely ruining anything electronic.” 

Drifter didn’t seemed convinced but put the gauntlet down on the desk not too far from the bed. They both left the room leaving Max and Steel alone. The ultralink happily plopped himself on the blanket, Max could feel him debating joining him in the burrito he’d made of himself. They were content to lay there together, for once they actually felt at peace. They had nothing to do, no responsibilities, no reason to have to shoot up and fly away somewhere in a hurry. They could just be. They allowed themselves to sink deep into the bed, neither could recall the last time they actually slept in bed. As the smell of their hosts’ cooking started to make its way into their room Max realized that he couldn’t remember the last time he ate. 

Wiggling out from his blanket Max decided he was going to go downstairs, or at least try. Steel watched him propping himself up on the pillow, there was no way he was going to miss this. Max planted his feet firmly on the floor, grabbed the bedpost for balance, and hoisted himself upright. Gripping the bedpost as if he were about to be sucked out of the airlock it suddenly didn’t seem like he was going to be able to get down there by himself. It was taking all he had to remain standing, he looked to Steel with a pleading expression. 

“Oh no my dude” he said unmoving “If anything you should lay back down, but I'm not gonna help you leave”

<You, are no fun> Max said sitting back down <could you at least hand the gauntlet?>

“I could do you one better” Steel said flying over to it and picking it up “I can make slight alterations to Base Mode and include something like it and it's functionality.” 

<Sounds cool,> Max said leaning back against the wall <you know what it does?>

“No but give me a bit and I will.” he immediately set to work on figuring out Drifter’s gift 

Max laid back down and watched Steel work, he didn’t really understand this stuff but it was mesmerizing to watch him do all of it. He always made it look so easy, then again he knows what he’s doing. Even though Steel knew they probably weren’t going to use it, it looked like he was already modding it to be able to handle his TURBO Touch. At least he’ll be able to play with it, he wouldn’t want to hurt Drifter’s feelings and make it look like he rejected a gift -or more importantly- a valuable tool. Just as easily as he took it apart he put it back together again just like new. 

A slight knock at the door brought his attention away and he saw Drifter holding a tray with a bowl and glass filled with something. They’d already taken off their cloak showing the gray skirt and black covering that Max wasn’t quite sure if it was a bodysuit or if it was like a undershirt for their armor. Their face was exposed and he could actually somewhat read them now without the covering. It looked like they had something to say, Max sat upright giving them his fullest attention. Drifter sat down on the bed careful not to let anything spill. It smelled amazing and Max couldn’t take his eyes off of it. 

“So Guardian and I talked,” they said handing Max the tray of food “And we wanted to let you know, let  _ both _ of you know, that if you want to.” Drifter looked away, their whole body tense “If you want to you can stay with us, after you’ve healed.” 

Max didn’t know how to react, he looked over to Steel who appeared to be similarly shocked. What could have possibly made them want to open their home to two random strangers? 

“I know it’s sudden,” they said looking back at the two “but you don’t have to answer right away. You can take all the time you need to think on it.” From some unseen pocket Drifter pulled out a slip of paper “This is the contact code for the Apothecary should you need anything.”

Max took it from them to try to memorize, or at least find a good place to put it while he was eating. There was, however, a slight problem with it. 

“Max...” Drifter asked “Do you know how to read?” 

‘ _ yes I know how to read _ ’ Max thought to himself ‘ _ I just don’t know how to read this _ ’

But given how he’s limited right now to yes/no answers, Max opted to just shake his head no. 

“Ah...” Drifter’s face was unreadable “Well, in the morning if you’re feeling up to it we can work on your letters. How does that sound?” 

He smiled giving the blue skinned wonder a thumbs up, hoping they understood that as approval. 

Drifter smiled back and ruffled Max’s hair before getting up and leaving, he saw them glance over their shoulder from the corner of his eye while he started to eat. It was hard to deny the feelings Max had right now. He didn’t know what exactly they were, but one thing was clear, it was something he was missing for a long time. Whatever it is about these people, they made him feel safe, and for that it was worth giving them a chance. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if Drifter and Guardian get to be stone cold bad asses while terminally ill then I can be as handwavey as i want


	3. The Sound of Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drifter is so used to the quiet, the familiar silence that has enveloped their life since the disease took them, but now the silence is deafening and breaking it is harder than it looks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have a new job now. I work in a factory 2nd shift six days a week
> 
> Basically my updates are gonna be EVEN SLOWER because i work 10-12 hours with only one day off. I do write a little bit when I come home but real talk I'm so sore and tired I can barely manage 50 words. 
> 
> Sorry guys.

Given the circumstances, things could have been a lot worse. One boy was recovering nicely and the other was making sure that he wasn’t lonely. Guardian and Drifter knew they couldn’t leave them here alone, but they couldn’t put the mission on hold until he was healed either. What they decided to do was fairly simple. They split the duties. One goes out in search of the modules, monoliths, and the like. While the other stays here and makes sure that their guest doesn’t try to hurt himself again doing something he shouldn’t. 

Drifter wasn’t, very experienced with kids. They’d seen the ones around Central and was, courteous, to them, but they knew nothing about the actual raising of. Granted this one looked almost grown but, the look Guardian had on his face the night before he left. It told Drifter that while he might be almost grown, there was so much missing that this child needed. It wasn’t hard for them to see it either. The other night Drifter had given him a hug, a gesture that they thought he might appreciate, only to get the sinking feeling that he’d not been shown this kind of affection in a very very long time. Raising a child is difficult but, making sure someone felt loved and cared for... Drifter was certain they could at least manage that. 

They grabbed one of the books they’d taken from Avian’s extensive library to help Max study. It wasn’t a very high reading level but it wasn’t so low that it was appropriate for some of the younger children in Central. The major roadblock in this was figuring out how to make sure that he understands, he clearly had a very strong grasp of language as whenever someone spoke to him he didn’t seem to have any issues, but when it came to reading something the page might as well be blank. This was not going to be an easy task. 

Drifter checked the time and figured it was at least time to go and see if he was up for something. They felt bad just leaving him up in the room just with Steel, regardless of how well the two get along he needs others to talk to. Climbing the steps they could hear Steel laughing and a strangled sound that could only be what Max’s laugh sounds like now. Upon opening the door they saw that the two were batting a wadded up piece of paper across the room. Drifter wasn’t sure of the rules but it looked like Max was winning. Steel hit the ball with all his might, his spindly robotic arms making it zip right back to the bed where Max sat at the ready. Moments before it came into contact with him Max sent the paper shooting past Steel like a bullet by comparison. There went that thought of Steel letting Max win. 

“How are you feeling?” Drifter asked 

Max gave a lazy thumbs up, he stared intently at Drifter. They both knew that his answers were largely yes/no, so they were going to have to word this next question carefully so that he might be able to answer. Steel was always an option but, he wasn’t really trained to be able to do this. He had a tendency to make it difficult to tell if he was relaying something Max said or if he was adding to the conversation. They could only handle doing one lesson at a time, and right now getting Max able to communicate on his own without help is more important. 

“Do you think you’re up for starting on the alphabet? The gauntlet has a text-to-speech function so you’ll be able to ‘talk’ once you’re able to read.” 

Max looked down at the bed, his body growing stiff, his jaw tightened. He was embarrassed. 

Drifter wasn’t sure how to approach it, Steel had claimed before that Max could in fact read. Just not this language, he tried to explain to them how he implanted the knowledge of their language -and continues to do so as he listens to people speak- into Max’s mind. Given that this would be Max’s second language, he would likely struggle, but at the same time there was only two people here that spoke that language so it was essentially a total immersion environment. 

“I know it’ll be hard,” they started “but you seem like a quick learner, and maybe it’ll even be fun.” Drifter looked to Steel “I also have some things for you downstairs.” 

Steel’s face made the :o symbol, as far as machines goes he’s very expressive, unlike most of the town’s resident robots. Without another word he zipped off downstairs to find the “things” Drifter had left for him. Steel didn’t need the slow and arduous method of learning, so there was no need for him to be a part of this unless he really wanted to be. 

Drifter and Max made themselves comfortable on the bed and Drifter pulled up the alphabet that they’d made up. They’d point at a letter, state it’s “name” and the sound it makes. After going through it a couple of times Max reached over for the gauntlet and slipped it on. A small hard light keyboard and monitor appeared as Max examined the keys. Drifter hadn’t thought to use the text-to-speech as a way for him to learn, so Drifter would give him a word and ask him to spell it based on the sounds alone. After some hesitancy Max obliged, they started with his name, and then Steel’s, and as they progressed it got harder and harder. Some things were just difficult to spell, others had hidden letters that weren’t pronounced when spoken but were very much written -such as the word “queue”- but they continued on. 

Max was taking to the software very well, while it took him a long time to get out a full sentence he was able to say something by himself. He pressed each key and listened to the sounds carefully before accepting it, mouthing the words he was trying to spell with each attempt. When he found a stopping point he looked up back to Drifter. 

[I think I’d like to stay here, with you.]

**Author's Note:**

> i should be updating literally anything else not starting a new project but if I'm going to commit to this Hell of a special interest then by God I'm going to do my AUs
> 
> If you're old enough to remember 1337 5|o34|< then you might have been able to read that, however if you just flat out don't remember it here's the translations
> 
> "Let me help", "This is medicine" "By the Jackal what happened", "Lay him down here"


End file.
